Safety helmet capable of absorbing multi-direction impact

ABSTRACT

A safety helmet includes a shell, a flexible frame attached to the shell from inside, and a slide-facilitating member attached to the flexible frame from inside. In virtue of the slide-facilitating member, the shell when receiving incoming impact can slide with respect to a head of a user wearing it, so that the safety helmet can absorb and convert energy of the incoming impact force into other forms of energy, thereby enhancing protection to the user&#39;s head.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to safety helmets, and more particularlyto a safety helmet that absorbs impact from multiple directions.

2. Description of Related Art

Most existing safety helmets are formed by a rigid casing and a bufferlayer filled under the rigidity casing. When impact acts on such a knownsafety helmet, the rigidity casing first bears a part of the impactenergy, and the buffer layer later absorbs a part of the energy. Theremaining energy has to be borne by the user's head and cervicalvertebra. For safety helmets, incoming impact can be divided into threetypes, namely radial impact, tangential impact, and diagonal impact.Radial impact can cause linear acceleration of a user's head that maylead to skull fracture and/or traumatic brain injury. Tangential impactcan cause angular acceleration of a user's head that may bring aboutshear-based injury to brain and/or cervical vertebra. However, accordingto statistics, there have been seldom cases about pure radial ortangential impact. The most common type of injury is damage caused bydiagonal impact, which is a combination of the two foregoing types ofimpact. When being subject to diagonal impact, a human head can havelinear acceleration and slew acceleration at the same time, making itmore vulnerable to grievous injury, such as cerebral concussion,traumatic brain injury (TBI), subdural hematoma (SDH) and diffuse axonalinjury (DAI).

For ensuring protective capability of safety helmets, the relevantmanufactures usually test their helmet products for impact absorptionbefore shipment. Nevertheless, since these tests are usually designedfor radial impact, the existing safety helmets may be good at absorbingradial impact, but are likely to fail to protect their user from impactacting in different directions (especially diagonal impact).

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a safetyhelmet that absorbs multi-direction and thereby provides improvedprotection to its user's head.

To achieve the foregoing objective, the disclosed safety helmetcomprises a shell, a flexible frame, and a slide-facilitating member.The flexible frame is attached to the inner surface of the shell, andthe slide-facilitating member is attached to the inner surface of theflexible frame. Therein, the flexible frame supports the shell, whileretaining the slide-facilitating member, so that the slide-facilitatingmember can fittingly and comfortably embrace a user's head. Theslide-facilitating member facilitates slide of the shell. Thereby, whenthe shell receives incoming impact, especially diagonal impact, theslide-facilitating member allows the shell to slide with respect to theuser's head. In this way, the impact force otherwise acting on theuser's head can be absorbed and converted into other forms of energy,thereby providing better protection to the user's head.

Preferably, the foregoing slide-facilitating member has aslide-facilitating medium. The slide-facilitating medium may be realizedin various aspects. For example, the slide-facilitating medium may be afluid such as gas or liquid. Alternatively, it may be a plurality offreely rolling beads. Alternatively, the slide-facilitating medium maybe two aligned substrates that abut against each other with alow-friction surface so as to have relative displacement therebetween.Alternatively, the slide-facilitating medium may be two aligned magnetsfacing each other with magnetic poles having the same polarity, so thatthe two magnets can easily have relative displacement due to magneticrepulsion. Alternatively, the slide-facilitating medium may be twoaligned substrates and a plurality of flexible threads arrangedtherebetween. These flexible threads allow the two substrates to performrelative displacement. Alternatively, the slide-facilitating medium maybe a plate made of a viscoelastic material. The plate has a plurality ofrecesses and a plurality of tongues, which are arranged next to eachother alternately, so that the plate can use its own elasticity to allowsuch slide. Alternatively, the slide-facilitating medium has a substrateand a plurality of flexible bars connected to the substrates. Theflexible bars have deforming property that allows such slide.

More information about the configuration, features, fabrication and usesof the safety helmet of the present invention will be provided in thefollowing description in detail. However, people skilled in the artshall appreciate that the detailed description and embodiments as wellas aspects are for illustration only, and by no means intended to limitthe scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a safety helmet of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the disclosed safety helmet.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional applied view of the disclosed safety helmet.

FIG. 4, similar to FIG. 3, shows the shell receiving impact.

FIGS. 5a-5g illustrate different aspects of the slide-facilitatingmedium of the disclosed safety helmet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This is to be first emphasized herein that like elements or featureswill be identified by identical numbers throughout all figures.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a safety helmet 10 of the present inventioncomprises a shell 20, a flexible frame 30, and a slide-facilitatingmember 40.

The shell 20 has a casing 21 and a buffer layer 22. The buffer layer 22is adhered to the inner surface of the casing 21 using an adhesive. Thecasing 21 is made of a rigid material, such as hard plastic, and servesto provide first-line protection. The buffer layer 22 is made of ashock-absorbing material, such as foam, for damping shock and buffering.

The flexible frame 30 is made of an elastic material, such as elasticplastic. As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible frame 30 has two symmetricaltop ribs 32 and a side rib 34. The two top ribs 32 each have one endintegratedly connected to the front end of the side rib 34, and the rearend of the side rib 34 is provided with an adjuster 36, which can beused to adjust the circumference of the side rib 34 so that the side rib34 can fittingly wrap different sizes of users' heads. Furthermore, thetop ribs 32 and the side rib 34 are each detachably attached to theinner surface of the buffer layer 22 of the shell 20 inner surfacethrough a fastener (not shown) such as a Velcro tape. Moreover, as shownin FIG. 3, the top ribs 32 and the side rib 34 may each have its outersurface provided with a plurality of tenons 38, so that in addition tothe adhesion of the fasteners to the inner surface of the buffer layer22 of the shell 20, these tenons 38 can engage with mortises 23correspondingly arranged on the buffer layer 22 to enhance thecombination between the flexible frame 30 and the shell 20 whileallowing easy detachment of the flexible frame 30 for convenientadjustment.

The slide-facilitating member 40 has a covering 41, which is made of alow-friction material, such as flannel. The covering 41 has one sideadhered to the inner surface of the flexible frame 30 through fasteners(not shown) such as velcro tapes, so that the slide-facilitating member40 can be retained by the flexible frame 30 to have the reverse side ofthe covering 41 contact a user's head 12 directly. In this way, thecovering 41 can be easily detached for convenient cleaning whenstaining. The slide-facilitating member 40 further has aslide-facilitating medium 42 wrapped by the covering 41. In the presentembodiment, the slide-facilitating medium 42 has two aligned substrates43 and a plurality of flexible threads 44. The two substrates 43 arefixed to the covering 41 by means of an adhesive. The flexible threads44 are arranged between the two substrates 43 regularly or irregularly.With the presence of these flexible threads 44, the two substrates 43can perform relative displacement easily. It is to be also noted that,the slide-facilitating member 40 shown in FIG. 2 contains two units, onecorresponding to head top and the other embracing the head peripherally.However, in practice, the two units may be integrated into a unity, oralternatively be divided into three or more units, depending onpractical needs.

With the foregoing configuration, when the shell 20 is subject toincoming impact, the casing 21 of the shell 20 bears part of the energy,and the buffer layer 22 of the shell 20 absorbs a part of energy. Thenwhen the remaining energy is transmitted to the slide-facilitatingmember 40, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the slide-facilitating member 40has the slide-facilitating medium 42 allow the shell 20 to slide withrespect to the head 12, so that the impact force reaching theslide-facilitating member 40 is converted into potential energygenerated by the relative displacement. The slide-facilitating member 40can even slide with respect to the head 12 due to the low friction ofthe covering 41, so that the impact force reaching theslide-facilitating member 40 can be further converted into thermalenergy generated by mutual friction. This makes the user's head 12 andcervical vertebra only have to bear the last remaining energy. In otherwords, when the disclosed safety helmet 10 is subject to incomingimpact, it uses the deformation of the shell 20 itself, the relativeslide between the shell 20 and the head 12, and the friction between thecovering 41 and the head 12 to multiply absorb and convert the impactforce otherwise directly acting on the head 12 into other forms ofenergy, so as to reliably protect the head 12 from impact coming inmultiple directions, especially diagonal impact.

It is further to be noted that the slide-facilitating medium 42 may beembodied in various forms. For example, as shown in FIGS. 5a-5b , theslide-facilitating medium 42 is a fluid such as air or colloid, whichuses its deforming property to allow the shell 20 to slide.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5c , the slide-facilitating medium 42 iscomposed of a plurality of rolling beads 46. These rolling beads 46 usetheir arbitrary rolling to slide the shell 20. Alternatively, as shownin FIG. 5d , the slide-facilitating medium 42 is composed of two alignedsubstrates 48 each having a low-friction surface 50. The low-frictionsurfaces 50 of the two substrates 48 abut against each other so that thetwo substrates 48 can move with respect to each other easily and in turnallow the shell 20 to side, Further, the two substrate 48 may be made ofa low-friction material such as Polyoxymethylene (POM), Aramid, plasticwith chemical lubricants, Polyimide (PI), ultra-high molecular weightpolyethylene (UHMWPE), or the like. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5e ,the slide-facilitating medium 42 is in the form of two aligned magnets52, which face each other with the magnetic poles 54 having the samepolarity (not limited to the N pole or the S pole), so that the twomagnets 52 can perform relative displacement easily in virtue ofmagnetic repulsion, thereby facilitating slide of the shell 20.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5f , the slide-facilitating medium 42 isa plate made of a viscoelastic material and having a plurality ofrecesses 56 and a plurality of tongues 58, these recesses and tongues56, 58 are arranged next to each other alternately, so that when theslide-facilitating medium 42 performs elastic deformation under anexternal force, slide of the shell 20 is achieved. At last,alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5g , the slide-facilitating medium 42has a substrate 60 and a plurality of flexible bars 62 connected to thesubstrate 60, so that the elasticity of the flexible bars 62 allows theshell 20 to slide.

What is claimed is:
 1. A safety helmet, comprising: a shell; a flexibleframe, being attached to an inner surface of the shell; and aslide-facilitating member, being attached to an inner surface of theflexible frame, and serving to allow the shell to slide with respect toa user head wearing it when the shell receives incoming impact.
 2. Thesafety helmet of claim 1, wherein the slide-facilitating member has acovering and a slide-facilitating medium, in which the covering isattached to the inner surface of the flexible frame and theslide-facilitating medium is wrapped by the covering.
 3. The safetyhelmet of claim 2, wherein the slide-facilitating medium is a fluid. 4.The safety helmet of claim 2, wherein the slide-facilitating mediumcomprises a plurality of rolling beads.
 5. The safety helmet of claim 2,wherein the slide-facilitating medium has two aligned substrates eachhaving a low-friction surface, and the low-friction surfaces of the twosubstrates abut against each other.
 6. The safety helmet of claim 2,wherein the slide-facilitating medium comprises two aligned magnets,which faces each other with magnetic poles having the same polarity. 7.The safety helmet of claim 2, wherein the slide-facilitating medium hastwo aligned substrates and a plurality of flexible threads arrangedbetween the two substrates.
 8. The safety helmet of claim 2, wherein theslide-facilitating medium is a plate made of a viscoelastic material andhaving a plurality of recesses and a plurality of tongues, in which therecesses and the tongues are arranged next to each other alternately. 9.The safety helmet of claim 2, wherein the slide-facilitating medium hasa substrate and a plurality of flexible bars connected to the substrate.10. The safety helmet of claim 1, wherein the shell has a casing and abuffer layer, in which the buffer layer has an outer surface thereofattached to the inner face of the casing, and the flexible frame isattached to an inner surface of the buffer layer, and is alsodetachable.
 11. The safety helmet of claim 10, wherein the flexibleframe is attached to the inner surface of the buffer layer through afastener.
 12. The safety helmet of claim 11, wherein the flexible framehas two symmetrical top ribs and a side rib, in which the two top ribseach have a front end thereof integratedly connected to a front end ofthe side rib, and the side rib has a rear end thereof provided with anadjuster that is used to adjust a circumference defined by the side rib.13. The safety helmet of claim 10, wherein the inner surface of thebuffer layer has a plurality of mortise and an outer surface of theflexible frame has a plurality of tenons, so that the tenons of theflexible frame engage with the mortises of the buffer layer,respectively.
 14. The safety helmet of claim 13, wherein the flexibleframe has two symmetrical top ribs and a side rib, in which the two topribs each have a front end thereof integratedly connected to a front endof the side rib, and the side rib has a rear end thereof provided withan adjuster that is used to adjust a circumference defined by the siderib.